KuZOOkA

• Designer: Leo Colovini
• Publisher: Pegasus Spiele
• Players: 2-6
• Age: 8+
• Time: 30-45 minutes
• Played with review copy provided by Pegasus Spiele
• Amazon affiliate link – https://amzn.to/3VbCUqu

KuZOOkA was a high target of mine from SPIEL 2022 as it combined one of my favorite designers, Leo Colovini, with Pegasus Spiele – a company who has been giving me 2-3 hits per Essen cycle annually in recent years.  KuZOOkA has a clever humorous theme – 

It isn’t easy being a zoo animal. The enclosures are far too small for your needs, the daily routine is boring, and the visitors to the zoo are too obnoxious. For years, the visitors have been gawking at you and throwing all sorts of trash into your enclosures.  And now, due to an unfortunate incident, you are all going to be transferred to a smaller zoo in 8 days.  Now it’s totally clear: You need to break out of the zoo, ideally within the next seven days.  There are multiple ways to escape in KuZOOkA, but you need to work together with the other animals — in secret — to pool the trash left behind by zoo visitors and develop an escape plan that makes use of these items.  To make matters worse, you find it difficult to communicate with the other animals. The monkey screeches excitedly and the elephant trumpets loudly, but what are they trying to tell you?  What trash can they contribute to the escape plan? Which escape plan is the most promising? You must find a way to communicate. It’s high time to break out of the zoo!

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Evora

• Designer: Joao Quintela Martins
• Publisher: mebo games
• Players: 2-4
• Age: 8+
• Time: 60 minutes
• Played with copy provided by publisher

Considered by many to be one of the most timeless cities in Portugal, The UNESCO World Heritage city of Evora is rich with history, culture, architecture, and more. The city dates back more than 5,000 years. It was originally known as Ebora by the Lusitanians and was their regional capital. It was conquered by the Romans in 57 BC and began the growth that led to the popular city walls that help lend Evora its unique ambiance.

The city was conquered by the Moors in 715 along with other cities in the region such as Sintra. which led to further development before finally being recaptured in 1115. Between 1385–1580 it came under Manueline rule. During the reign of Manuel I and John III, Evora became the capital of culture. This time of growth led to some of the most iconic architecture in Evora as well as many of the magnificent monasteries that dot southern Portugal.

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The Wandering Towers

• Designers: Michael Kiesling, Wolfgang Kramer
• Players: 2-6
• Age: 8+
• Time: 30 minutes
• Played with copy purchased at SPIEL 2022; 5 times

Die Wandelnden Türme or The Wandering Towers was a new release with a fair amount of buzz at SPIEL 2022.  ABACUSSPIELE is usually good for a solid euro-game, and they are one of the stands that I usually try to see what they have each year.  In this game, your goal is to fill up all of your magic flasks (by trapping opposing wizards within a tower) and then getting all of your wizards to the Raven Castle.  The first person to do that wins!

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Powerline

• Designer: Dirk Henn
• Publisher: Queen Games
• Players: 1-6
• Age: 8+
• Time: 45 minutes
• Played with review copy provided by Queen Games

In Powerline, you have been tasked with building an efficient power network by connecting power stations to supply cities with sustainable energy.  But which city do you want to supply first, and which power stations will be the easiest to connect?   The theme is certainly fitting for the “Green Planet” line – as is the production; the folks at Queen Games told me that his game has a carbon neutral production footprint.

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Hamlet

• Designer: David Chircop
• Publisher: Mighty Boards
• Players: 1-4
• Age: 14
• Time: ~25min/player
• Played with copy bought at SPIEL 2022  (Founders Edition)

“Alas, poor Yorick – you didn’t bring enough stone to build the church!”

In Hamlet (~1599, Wm Shakespeare), the ghost of the King of Denmark tells his son Hamlet to avenge his murder by killing the new king, Hamlet’s uncle. Hamlet feigns madness, contemplates life and death, and seeks revenge. His uncle, fearing for his life, also devises plots to kill Hamlet. The play ends with a duel, during which the King, Queen, Hamlet’s opponent and Hamlet himself are all killed.  But that’s not the Hamlet that you came here to read about.

In Hamlet (2022, Mighty Boards) – there is one central Hamlet that the players contribute to, with its own self-forming demand and supply economy. Villagers walking through the Hamlet, delivering food to households and building resources to construction sites. And one day, the Church will finally be built, and the once-little Hamlet has become a fledgling town.  Who will be the biggest benefactor when that happens?  Once the church is built, the game ends – mostly because you no longer live in a hamlet; the term being reserved for villages without a church.

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